This past shabbos saw us hosting friends and family for a Chol HaMoed Shabbos dinner.  We had Baked Gefilte Fish Loaf, Sweet and Sour Brisket, Roasted Root Vegetables, whose recipes can be found here.  We changed the brisket recipe only slightly, by NOT using ketchup, and using tomato sauce and brown sugar instead, which is really, well, ketchup, minus the vinegar.  Anyway, to pair with this feast we had a list of wines, some that people brought over, and some that I took out of the cellar.

The list of wines can be found here, in the order they were enjoyed:

2006 Casa Da Corca Douro – Score: B++
The nose on this garnet colored wine is screaming with tobacco, rich black cherry, dirt, raspberry, appealing black fruit, coffee, vanilla, and oak.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine was a bit effervescent and was a bit confusing to start, but I got past that soon enough.  The mouth is concentrated and filled with black fruit, black cherry, raspberry, and vanilla.  The mid palate is busy with oak, integrated tannin, effervescence, coffee, and oak.  The finish is long with black fruit, black pepper, tobacco, coffee, vanilla, oak, and fruit.  Nice bottle of wine, and fun to enjoy.

2006 Yarden Chardonnay – Score: B+
The nose on this golden colored wine is hopping with ripe and fresh honey, butter, toasty oak, straw, flowers, lemon, peach, and apple.  The mouth on this medium bodied wine is rich with peach, lemon, melon, and apple.  The mid palate is balanced with bright acidity, rich toasty oak, and butterscotch.  The finish is long with bright and crisp acidity, butterscotch, and toasty oak.  Drink up, but a lot of fun.

2006 Galil Mountain Barbera – Score: B+
The nose on this purple colored wine is filled with fig, rich super ripe black plum, cherry, raspberry, black fruit, black pepper, and oak.  The palate on this medium to full bodied wine is lush and ripe with black plum, cherry, and raspberry.  The mid palate is nicely balanced with acidity, oak, and coffee.  The finish is long and fat with more coffee, black fruit, acid, and spice.  A nice wine that is a bit on the other side, drink UP!!

2005 Binyamina Merlot Special Reserve – Score: A-
The nose on this purple to black colored wine was screaming with tobacco, chocolate, licorice, blackberry, plum, cassis, and spicy oak.  The mouth on this full bodied Merlot was heavy with still not yet integrated tannin, blackberry, raspberry, and plum.  The mid palate is balanced and layered with chocolate, oak, acid, licorice, and smoked meat.  The finish carries on with smoked meat, chocolate, spicy oak, black fruit, and licorice.  A real nice wine, and this one is NOT Mevushal, so be careful, the 2005 Binyamina Reserve line seems to be Mevushal here in the US, but not the 05 line.

2005 Recanati Shiraz – Score: B++
The nose on this purple colored wine is hopping with bright and herb encrusted raspberry, plum, loamy dirt, and oak. The mouth on this semi concentrated / focused medium to full bodied wine, is full of plum, raspberry, and nice integrated tannin. The mid palate is balanced nicely with bracing acidity, oak, integrated tannin, and white pepper. The finish is long and elegant with pepper, oak, red fruit, leather, and spice. This wine turned a bit darker with air and added a lovely chocolate component that was just delicious, along with a more full mouth feel and integrated tannins.